Devices such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 30,787 and 4,379,019 are well known for applying a strip of masking tape along one edge of a sheet of masking material with a portion of the tape extending past the edge of the masking material by which the masking material may be temporarily attached along a surface to be protected, such as during painting of an adjacent surface. Typically such devices include a cut off blade by which the tape and sheet of masking material may be severed after a desired length thereof has been withdrawn from the device.
U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 116,508 entitled "Sheet Material for Masking Apparatus" filed Nov. 2, 1987, describes a roll of thin polymeric masking material intended for use on the type of device described in U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 30,787 and 4,379,019, which masking material is a wide sheet folded back and forth upon itself to shorten the length of the roll so that after application of the tape to the masking material and to a surface to be masked the sheet of masking material must be unfolded to obtain the benefit of its full width. The cut off blade normally used in that device, however, does not readily cut the multiple layers of such folded polymeric material, particularly when several folds are present (e.g., over 2 folds).